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Theme model 18
Theme-model XVIII.— THE DEBATE. The argumentative portion of the debate does not differ in organization from the expository theme. It has, however, two parts, direct proof and refutation, each with its own plan of organization. It is, therefore, equivalent in form to two separate themes. Argumentation and Exposition Combined in the Debate. In debates it is often necessary for the speakers to determine, first of all, exactly what they mean by the proposition or subject to be debated. This setting forth of the meaning of the proposition involves exposition. For instance, in a debate on the question, "Resolved, that English rule in foreign lands has been beneficial," the first para¬graph should state what is understood by foreign lands, whether the term would include Ireland, Wales, Scotland. It should define also the applica¬tion of "beneficial," showing whether the speaker means beneficial to England, her colonies, or the world in general. The Debate in Outline. Observe how, in the following outline, the direct proof and refutation may be developed according to the plan of Theme- model XII. (§ 233), that in which the paragraphs amplifying the leading thought are in coordinate relation to one another. The two differ only in material — the argumentative theme using reasons. RESOLVED, That student government in high schools is beneficial. INTRODUCTION OR EXORDIUM _First paragraph — an expository paragraph set¬ting forth the meaning of the term student govern¬ment, and the application of the word beneficial. DIRECT PROOF OR CONFIRMATIO Second paragraph — a paragraph of partition, stating the main reasons for believing that student government in high schools is beneficial. Student government in high schools is beneficial, for i. It promotes self-control on the part of the student. 2. Relieves the teacher of many disagreeable duties. 3. Is in harmony with our democratic ideas. 4- Makes the student sensitive to public opinion. Third paragraph — develops the first reason, namely, the promotion of self-control, by giving reasons why self-govetnment makes for self-control. Fourth paragraph — develops the second reason in the same way. Fifth paragraph — develops the third reason in the same way. Sixth paragraph — develops the fourth reason in the same way. Seventh paragraph—summarizes: (Compare this whole model with Theme-model XII., § 233.) REFUTATION OR CONFUTATIO The refutation of an argument may also be organized on the plan of Theme-model XII. by using argumentative instead of expository material. Every statement used in pure argumentation must be of the nature of proof. First paragraph — a paragraph of partition stat¬ing the main reasons for disbelieving in student government in high schools. Student government is not beneficial, for i. It lessens the student's respect for authority. 2. It requires too elaborate a machinery. 3. It puts too much emphasis upon discipline. 4. It promotes jealousies among students. Second paragraph— must show either of two things: Student government does not undermine authority, or, it is not desirable that students should have respect for authority. Third paragraph must show either : • That the machinery required by student govern¬ment is not necessarily elaborate, or at any rate no more so than government by a faculty ; or, that this elaborateness is not objectionable. %Seventh paragraph — should summarize the main points of the affirmative as well as those of the neg¬ative side. Of course the subordinate and mixed forms of Theme-models XIII. and XIV. may be used for direct proof. The refutation will generally, how¬ever, have the coordinate form indicated above. Subjects for Debates. In writing upon any of the subjects suggested in this section the student should remember that all the material used should give reasons for the main or minor propositions, or conclusions. Exercise Write an argumentative theme on any of the fol¬lowing subjects, giving direct proof and refutation. The direct proof may be of the coordinate, subordi¬nate, or mixed types : . In education, the study of books is more important than the study of things. z. A college education is undesirable for a business career. 3. One should read the latest novels. 4- Phonetic spelling is desirable. 5. School buildings should not be thrown open as social centers for the people. 6. The Rhodes bequest to American students will be of great advantage to our country. 7. The State should provide free textbooks. Persuasion. The following discussion of persuasion deals only with the paragraph and does not attempt to organize the complete theme. It is with persuasion only as it enters into narration that we are concerned. Persuasion is used as an aid to narration when the writer wishes us to see how one character in a story can determine the action of another by persuading him to do a thing to which he may be naturally disinclined. Informal Persuasion. That form of com¬position which aims directly or indirectly to affect the feelings or the will of another is called persua¬sion. Like the other four forms of discourse, it has its origin in dialogue. The following extract con¬tains persuasion in dialogue : Situation.' Within a squirrel's leap of it wood an old woman was standing at the door of a mud house, listening for the approach of the trap that was to take her to the poorhouse was Nanny Webster. Nanny was not crying She had redd up her house for the last time and put on her black merino. Her mouth was wide open while she lis¬tened. If you had addressed her you would have thought her polite and stupid That is all the story save that when Nanny heard the dog¬cart she screamed Place-description. The door stood open, and Nanny was crouching against the opposite wall of the room, such a poor, dull kitchen, that you would have thought the furniture had still to be brought into it. The blanket and the piece of old carpet that was Nanny's coverlet were already packed in her box. The plate rack was empty. Only the round table and the two chairs, and the stool and some pans were being left behind. Persuasion: "Well, Nanny," the Doctor McQueen said, trying to bluster, "I have come, and you see Mr. Dishart is with me." Nanny rose bravely. She knew the doctor was good to her, and she wanted to thank him. . . . "Thank you kindly, sirs," she said ; and then two pairs of eyes dropped before hers. "Please to take a chair." . . . . Both men sat down. . . The doctor thought it best that they should depart at once. He rose. "Oh, no, doctor," cried Nanny in alarm. "But you are ready?" "Ay," she said. "I have been ready this twa hours, but you micht wait a minute. Hendry Munn and Andrew Allardyce is coming yont the road, and they would see me." "Wait, doctor," Gavin said. "Thank you kindly, sir," answered Nanny. "But Nanny," the doctor said, "you must remem¬ber what I told you about the poor—, about the place you are going to. It is a fine house, and you will be very happy in it." "Ay, I'll be happy in 't," Nanny faltered, "but, doctor, if I could just hae bidden on here though I wasna happy ! " "Think of the food you will get ; broth nearly every day." " It — it'll be terrible enjoyable," Nanny said. "And there will be pleasant company for you always," continued the doctor, "and a nice room to sit in. Why, after you have been there a week, you won't be the same woman." "That's it," cried Nanny with sudden passion. " Na, na ; I'll be a woman on the poor's rates. Oh, mither, mither, you little thocht when you bore me that I would come to this!" "Nanny," the doctor said, rising again, "I am ashamed of you." "I humbly speir your forgiveness, sir," she said, "and you micht bide just a wee yet. I've bin ready to gang these twa hours, but now that the machine is at the gate, I dinna ken how it is, but I'm terrible sweer to come awa Oh, Mr Dishart, it's richt true what the doctor says about the — the place, but I canna just take it in. I'm — I'm gey auld." "You will often get out to see your friends," was all Gavin could say. " Na, na, na," she cried, " dinna say that ; I'll gang, but you mauna bid me ever come out, except in a hearse. Dinna let onybody in Thrums look on my face again." "We must go," said the doctor firmly. "Put on your mutch, Nanny." . . . . She took the bonnet from her bed, and put it on slowly. —jAmEs M. BARRIE, The Little Minister. SUGGESTIONS.—Who is being persuaded in this quotation? Who are persuading ? What is the result ? What do those who are per¬suading Nanny desire ? Formal Persuasion. The dialogue quoted above is informal or colloquial persuasion which we use in ordinary conversation and find in the novel and the play. In the oration occurs a more formal kind of persuasion, which is of two classes : 1. Direct persuasion—by means of exhortation. 2. Indirect persuasion—making use of narrative, descriptive, expository, or argumentative material. The following sections treat of the direct and indirect types of persuasion. Paragraph Illustrating Direct Persuasion or Exhortation. This form of composition is used in prayers, petitions, and in the peroration or close of the oration. It is a direct appeal to the will. The materials used to develop a hortatory paragraph are commands, wishes, adjurations, warnings, threats. In structure the hortatory paragraph is generally of the coordinate type already discussed under Exposi¬tion and Argumentation. A. A SERIES OF COMMANDS. Replace this with an example in english Quam ob rem, ut saepe jam dixi, proficiscere ; ac, si mihi inimico (ut praedicas) tuo conflare vis invidiam, recta perge in exsilium : vix feram sermones hominum Si id feceris ; vix molem istius invidiae, si in exsilium jussu consulis ieris, sustinebo. Sin autem servire meae laudi et gloriae mavis, egredere cum importuna scelera¬torum manu : confer te ad Manliuna, concita perditos civis, secerne te a bonis, infer patriae bellum, exsulta impio latrocinio, ut a me non ejectus ad alienos, sed in¬vitatus ad tuos isse videaris. - MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, Against Catiline, Oration I., Ch. X. B. A SERIES OF WISHES. Note that the appeal is here not to the will but to the feelings. Daniel Webster uses in his oration on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument the following appeal : "Let it not be supposed that our object is to per¬petuate national hostility, or even to cherish a mere military spirit. It is higher, purer, nobler. We conse¬crate our work to the spirit of national independence, and we wish that the light of peace may rest upon it forever We wish that whosoever, in all com¬ing time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold that the place is not undistinguished where the first great battle of the Revolution was fought. We wish that this struc¬ture may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event to every class and every age. We wish that infancy may learn the purpose of its erection from ma¬ternal lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it, and be solaced by the recollections which it suggests. We wish that labor may look up here, and be proud, in the midst of its toil. We wish that, in those days of disaster, which, as they come upon all nations, must be expected to come upon us also, desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our national power are still strong." C. A SERIES OF ADJURATIONS. - After showing that the Union cannot be dissolved without a terrible war, Henry Clay concludes one of his speeches with the following appeal : "Can you lightly contemplate the consequences ? Can you yield yourself to a torrent of passion, amidst dan¬gers which I have depicted in colors far short of what would be in reality if the event should ever happen ? I conjure gentlemen, whether from the South or the North, by all they hold dear in the world— by all their love of liberty—by all their veneration for their ances¬tors—by all their regard for posterity — by all their gratitude to him who has bestowed upon them such unnumbered blessings — by all the duties that they owe to mankind, and all the duties which they owe to them¬selves —by all these considerations I implore them to pause—solemnly to pause—at the edge of the precipice, before the fearful and disastrous leap is taken in the yawning abyss below, which will inevitably lead to certain and irretrievable destruction." D. A PRAYER. • 0 Thou! who pour'd the patriotic tide That stream'd through Wallace's undaunted heart ; Who dar'd to nobly stem tyrannic pride, Or nobly die, the second glorious part : (The patriot's God peculiarly thou art, His friend, inspirer, guardian, and reward !) 0, never, never, Scotia's realm desert ; But still the patriot, and the patriot-bard, In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard ! - ROBERT BURNS, The Cotter's Saturday Night. Paragraphs Illustrating Indirect Persua¬sion. The paragraph structure here follows the laws of the descriptive, narrative, and expository paragraph in regard to the first, last, and interven¬ing sentences : A. PERSUASION INVOLVING DESCRIPTION. Ireland ! Poor first love of the Celtic race ! So far from France, yet its sister whom it cannot succor across the waves ! The Isle of Saints, the Emerald Isle — so fruitful in men, so bright in genius ! The country of Buckley and Joland, of Moore and O'Connell ! The land of bright thoughts and the rapid sword, which preserves, amidst the old age of this world, its poetic inspiration. Let the Euglish smile when passing some hovel in their towns, they hear the Irish widow chant the coronach for her husband. Weep ! mournful coun¬try; and let France weep too, for degradation which she cannot prevent — calamities which she cannot avert. - JULES MICHELET. B. PERSUASION INVOLVING NARRATION. Note that the appeal here is rather to the feelings than to the will. That is, the will is appealed to through the feelings : There is in the fate of these unfortunate beings Indians much to awaken our sympathy, and much to disturb the sobriety of our judgment ; much that may be urged to excuse their atrocities. What can be more melancholy than their history ? By a law of their nature, they seem destined to a slow but sure extinction. Everywhere at the approach of the white man, they fade away. We hear the rustling of their footsteps, like that of the withered leaves of autumn, and they are gone forever. They pass mournfully by us, and return no more. Two centuries ago the smoke of their wig¬wams and the fires of their councils rose in every valley, from Hudson's Bay to the farthest Florida, from the ocean to the Mississippi and the lakes. The shouts of victory and the war dance rang through the mountains and the glades. The thick arrows and the deadly toma¬hawk whistled through the forests ; and the hunter's trace and the dark encampment startled the wild beasts in their lairs. The warriors stood forth in their glory. The young listened to the songs of other days. The moth¬ers played with their infants, and gazed on the sun with warm hopes of the future. The aged sat down, but they wept not. They should soon be at rest in fairer regions where the Great Spirit dwelt in a home prepared for the brave beyond the western skies. Braver men never lived. Truer men never drew bow But where are they ? Where are the villages and warriors, and youth; the sachems and their tribes; the hunters and their families ? They have perished. They are consumed The winds of the Atlantic fan not a single region which they may now call their own. Already the last feeble remnant of the race are pre¬paring for their journey beyond the Mississippi. . . . The ashes are cold on their native hearths. - JOSEPH STORY. C. PERSUASION INVOLVING EXPOSITION. Do you know how empires find their end ? Yes, the great states eat up the little. As with fish, so with na¬tions. Aye, but how do the great states come to an end ? By their own injustice, and no other cause Come with me into the inferno of the nations, with such poor guidance as my lamp can lend. Let us disquiet and bring up the awful shadows of empires buried long ago, and learn a lesson from the tomb. Come, old Assyria, with the Ninevitish dove upon thy emerald crown ! What laid thee low ? "I fell by my own injustice. Thereby Nineveh and Babylon came with me also to the ground." Oh, queenly Persia, flame of the nations ! wherefore art thou so fallen, who troddest the people under thee, bridgedst the Hellespont with ships, and pouredst thy temple-wasting millions on the Western world ? "Because I trod the people under me and bridged the Hellespont with ships, and poured my temple-wast¬ing millions on the Western world. I fell by my own misdeeds ! " Thou muse-like, Grecian queen, fairest of all thy classic sisterhood of states, enchanting yet the world with thy sweet witchery, speaking in art and most seductive song, why liest thou there with the beauteous yet dishonored brow, reposing on thy broken harp ? "I scorned the law of God ; banished and poisoned wisest, justest men ; I loved the loveliness of flesh, em¬balmed it in Parian stone ; I loved the loveliness of thought, and treasured that in more than Pariaii speech. But the beauty of justice, the loveliness of love, I trod them down to earth ! Lo, therefore have I become as those barbarian states — as one of them ! " -THEODORE PARKER. D. PERSUASION INVOLVING ARGUMENTATION. It was as the founder of an empire, which threatened for a time to comprehend the world, and which de¬manded other talents besides that of war, that he Napoleon challenged unrivaled fame. And here we question his claim — here we cannot award him supremacy. The project of universal empire, however imposing, was not original. The revolutionary gov¬ernments of France had adopted it before ; nor can we consider it as a sure indication of greatness, when we remember that the weak and vain mind of Louis the Fourteenth was large enough to cherish it. The ques¬tion is : Did Napoleon bring to this design the capacity of advancing it by bold and original conceptions, adapted to an age of civilization, and of singular intel¬lectual and moral excitement ? Did he discover new foundations of form ? Did he frame new bonds of union for subjugated nations ? Did he breathe a spirit which could supplant the old national attachments, or did he invent any substitutes for those vulgar instru¬ments of force and corruption which any and every usurper would have used ? Never in the records of time did the world furnish such material to work with, such means of modeling nations afresh, of building up a new power, of introducing a ne,w era, as did Europe at the period of the French Revolution. Never was the human mind so capable of new impulses. And did Napoleon prove himself equal to the condition of the world ? Do we detect one original conception in his means of universal empire ? Did he seize on the enthu¬siasm of his age, that powerful principle, more efficient than aims or policy, and bend it to his purpose ? He did nothing but follow the beaten track, but apply force and fraud in their coarsest forms. With the sword in one hand and bribes in the other, he imagined himself absolute master of the human mind. -WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING.